Chapter 6 - Chapter Six

Sarah’s jaw dropped when she saw Tia and Jet coming to school together, Jet walking smoothly while Tia limped in on her crutches.

“Oh my God,” Sarah said, bouncing excitedly up and down the moment Jet left her and dragging her towards the classroom. “Did he come and pick you up?”

“No.”

“Don’t tell me you two just happened to bump into each other on the way to school,” Carrie warned, who suddenly appeared with Gary. “I’m not buying that shoot.”

Damn.

Tia adjusted her sunglasses and shrugged. “It was no big deal. He stayed over last night.” And the night before, she wanted to add.

“What?” Gary burst out. “He stayed over? Do your parents know?”

“Of course not. What would they think?”

“Exactly what we’re thinking right now,” he muttered.

She flicked his head. “Nothing happened. We didn’t do anything.”

“Is that disappointment I sense, dear?” Carrie asked, slinging an arm across her shoulder.

Tia laughed. “Piss off.”

“Tell us,” Sarah begged her. “What happened?”

“It was nothing,” Tia said. “He climbed into my room really drunk on Saturday night—”

“Whoa, wait up,” Gary said. “Did you say Saturday night? Did he stay over for two nights?”

Oops. “Uh, no. I meant Sunday night.”

Sarah, Carrie and Gary looked at her.

“Fine. He stayed for two nights. What’s the big deal about that?”

“Did anything…exciting happen?” Sarah asked. “You know, with him being drunk and all.”

If only they knew why he was drunk. “No. Just because he stayed over doesn’t mean that we’ve been…doing inappropriate stuff.”

“I don’t see what’s stopping you,” Carrie said. “You’re sixteen, aren’t you?”

Tia grimaced. “I don’t want to do it yet.”

“Waiting for ‘the one’?” Carrie teased her.

“Please. Besides, it’s not like you’ve done it yourself.”

“Not yet.”

Gary grinned. “I’m always available at night Carrie, just in case you didn’t know.”

Carrie elbowed him out of the way. “Seriously, Tia, you should go for Jet. He’s older and judging by his looks, he’s veree experienced.” She licked her lips and winked at Tia.

Tia whacked her friend’s arm. “Lay off,” she said, laughing.

“Ooh, someone’s getting defensive,” Carrie teased, and Tia blushed slightly.

“Guys, seriously, there’s nothing going on. We’re just good friends, and he didn’t want his parents finding out that he was drunk, that’s all.”

“Oh, and they won’t mind the fact that he spent two nights over at a girl’s house? A girl who’s by the way, sixteen and vulnerable?” Gary challenged.

“I am not vulnerable,” Tia argued, not wanting to tell them that Jet didn’t live with his parents anymore.

“We’re all more vulnerable than we let on,” Sarah said to her. “You never know.”

Tia nodded, distracted. Jet was outside her classroom. What was he doing here? He was never on this floor. His classroom was two floors above. He caught her eye and beckoned her over.

“I’ll uh, I’ll be right back,” she said, pushing past her friends, ignoring Sarah and Carrie’s giggles and Gary’s whistle.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, limping up to him. “The bell’s going to ring soon.”

“I know.” He leaned against the doorframe, looking down at her. “I was just wondering whether you wanted to have lunch with me today.”

“We have lunch together whenever you’re at school.”

“No, I meant just the two of us.”

Like a date? “Um, sure. Where are we going?”

He grinned. “I’ll think of a place.” He pushed himself off the doorframe. “I’ll meet you under our tree,” he called over his shoulder as he loped away. Their tree was the one he found her reading under that day. It was their tree now.

Right. So.

He just asked her on a date. Jet just asked her on a date.

Oh my God, Jet Renn just asked her on a date.

“He asked you out on a date, didn’t he?” Carrie asked after seeing the look on her face.

“Well, not technically.”

“Oh, please, you’re practically hyperventilating already.”

“Well, he never said it was going to be date.”

“Okay, we’re doing your makeup at recess. You are not allowed to see him during recess today.”

“What? Why?”

“So he wonders where you are. You can’t always be there for him; he’ll get bored of you. It’ll keep him wanting more. ”

“Trust me, it works,” Gary said. “Although in my case, she didn’t show up for her date.”

Tia laughed as the bell rang.

~

“Come on.” Carrie pulled her impatiently into the bathroom.

“Careful of the leg!”

“Sorry. Sarah!”

“I’m here.” Sarah held up an armful of cosmetics which she had assured her teacher had somehow magically appeared in her locker.

“Guys, it should be—”

Carrie interrupted her. “Subtle but obvious, right? I know, Tia. I go on dates myself, too.”

Tia wished Carrie knew what she was doing because she certainly didn’t know what the hell she was doing.

Fifteen minutes later…

“Voila!” Carrie said, spinning Tia around so that she could see herself in the mirror.

“Oh my God, Carrie, thank you!” She looked at her watch. “We should go back to our classroom now.”

“Are you kidding?” Carrie asked. “They’d never let you into the classroom with that much makeup on. Besides, Mr. Stanton’s such a perv he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from molesting you. You just sit here prettily like a lady.” She put her hands on her hips. “I still don’t understand why you won’t let me do your eyes.”

Tia readjusted her sunglasses. “I’ll be wearing these anyways so it doesn’t matter.”

“Surely you’re going to take them off when you’re in a restaurant with him.”

Tia shot her a look. “Have you ever seen me without my sunglasses?”

“Good point. But—”

“Here, give me these.” Tia snatched the mascara, the eyeliner and the eye shadow from Carrie. “I’ll do my eyes when you guys are in your lessons okay?”

“Fine.” Satisfied, Carrie turned away. “Let’s go Sarah. Our work here is done.” She blew a kiss towards Tia. “Tell us how it goes, dahling,” she said as the bell rang.

Tia limped up to the mirror and began carefully applying her makeup on.

Not seeing Jet at recess was a good move.

“I missed you at recess today,” he said, pushing himself away from where he was leaning against the tree.

“Yeah, well, I had something to do.”

“I was going to tell you where we were going for lunch at recess but now I guess it’s going to have to be a surprise.”

She grinned. “I love surprises. Well, pleasant ones, anyway.”

They started walking side by side, Jet slowing down when he realised that Tia found it hard to keep up with him with her crutches. He offered to carry her and she declined, saying that she refused to feed his ego because she knew that he was going to say that she couldn’t keep her hands off him. He laughed and said that she knew him too well.

Jet stopped. “We’re here.”

Tia stared in front of her in shock and horror. “Are you serious?”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“My parents freaking run the place, Jet, of course it’s going to be bad. Come on, you know my mom’s cooking. We’ll probably get food poisoning after this.”

“Tiana, have you eaten in your parents’ café?”

“No, isn’t it bad enough that I have to eat their food at home?”

“Give them a chance. It’s not bad as you think.”

“Fine,” Tia muttered. “But if I feel even slightly nauseous…”

Jet laughed as he helped her up the steps. “I happen to buy my breakfast here every morning.”

“No wonder you look weird until after lunch.”

“The lunch at school sucks.”

“If the lunch at school sucks, then my mother’s food positively sucks balls.”

He clicked his tongue. “Such crude language. You wouldn’t want to swear in your parents’ shop, would you?”

“You have no idea how much I wish I had a megaphone with me right now. I’d swear to kingdom come and back.”

He led her to a table and pulled her chair open out for her to sit on.

“Hello, Jet.” Tia’s mother had suddenly appeared. “I didn’t know you were coming today.” She looked across the table and saw Tia. “Oh, are you taking my daughter on a date, then?”

“Mom!”

Tia’s mother ignored her. “That’s lovely, Jet. I always thought you two looked cute together.”

Jet smiled politely at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Green.”

“Charlene, darling, Charlene.”

“DAD!” Tia yelled, not caring that there were other customers in the café. “Get your butt over here right now and haul mom out of here.”

Tia’s dad obliged (much to Tia’s relief).

“Is this why you brought me here?” she asked Jet. “To embarrass me?”

“Personally, I find your mother very…endearing.”

Tia snorted. “I bet. I swear, if she wasn’t married, she’d be checking your tonsils out now. And you probably would’ve let her.”

“Now why would I make out with my date’s mother?”

Did he just refer to her as his date? She wanted to jump up and do a little victory dance, but she didn’t want to embarrass herself (again). Besides, the leg was going to make her dance look lame. Well, lamer than it already was. “Ack,” she managed to say, quite lamely.

“There’s something strangely amusing when your date says something of the ‘ack’ calibre.”

She considered ordering a drink to splash onto his face, but that would mean talking to her mother, and she certainly didn’t want to do that for a while. She swallowed.

“I didn’t realise we were on a date,” she said finally.

“Well, what else would you call this?”

She thought about it. “Two friends having lunch, maybe?”

Jet shrugged. “Well, if that’s what you want it to be, then…”

“No!” Tia blurted out. “I mean, I really couldn’t care less.”

He smirked. “Oh?”

“Mm.”

“Would you lovebirds like to order now?” Tia’s mother had once again magically appeared out of nowhere. Tia was grateful that she had appeared so she and Jet wouldn’t have to continue the conversation. She was however, not grateful that her mother had just called them lovebirds.

Jet opened his menu for the first time since they had come into the café. “What’s the most popular dish in this café, Mrs. Green?”

“Well, our food is in general quite good, so there isn’t a particular dish—”

“Oh, well, can you choose one for me that you think I’ll like?” Jet winked at Tia’s mother before handing her the menu.

Tia rolled her eyes. “I’ll uh, have whatever he’s having.”

Her mother took their menus, squeezed Tia’s shoulders and whispered to her that Jet was such a nice and pleasant boy before disappearing off into the kitchen. Tia blinked several times and sipped at her Coke.

“Well, Tiana, have you decided?”

“Decided what?”

“Whether this is going to be a date or just two friends having lunch.”

Tia felt the heat creep up into her cheeks. “I don’t…I don’t think I can be the judge of that until this…date, well, lunch date, is really over.”

Jet grinned. “Ah, so you’d expect me to do something more for it to be called a date, but right now, it’s a bit more than just two friends having lunch?”

She stuck out her chin. “That’s right.” Her fingers were drumming nervously on the table while his was placed calmly there, about an inch away from hers. He had nice hands: long and artistic fingers.

“So what would you expect me to do if this were to be a date, Tia?”

He had called her Tia again. She didn’t know whether to smack the silly grin she knew she had off her face right now or to simply shriek with joy.

“Um,” she started, trying to think of something that wouldn’t give too much away, “what would you usually do on a date?”

“Well, for starters, there would be some kind of contact,” he said, stretching out his fingers and touching Tia’s hand. Electricity jolted through where he was touching her, but she didn’t pull away.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “Contact is good. Definitely.”

He grinned. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I do.”

Just then, Tia’s mother appeared (surprise, surprise). “Here’s your lunch, dears. Oh my,” she said, taking in their hands, which were now clasped, “am I interrupting anything?”

Tia felt like taking the knife that was on her table and stabbing her mother with it. “Um, no. Thanks mom.”

Her mother placed their lunches in front of them. “Just call me if you need me,” she said, smiling down at Jet.

Jet smiled politely back at her. “Thank you, Mrs. Green.”

Tia groaned. “I think you should have a restraining order against my mother,” she said after her mother had left.

“Your mother’s very nice, and she’s overprotective of you. She’s a good mother. Unlike mine.”

Tia squeezed his hand gently. “You can have my mother whenever you want.”

Jet laughed. “Your mother is very caring, Tiana. You just need a little more patience.”

“I need a truckload of patience when it comes to my mother.”

“She does what she thinks is best for you.”

“You mean constantly embarrassing me while trying to flirt with you?”

Jet grinned. “Except for that.”

They started eating, talking about whatever came to mind. Tia realised that the food really wasn’t that bad. But that was probably because it was her dad who cooked the food. Still, she had to give the food some kind of credit.

“Shall we go?” Jet asked after paying the bill. Their mother had refused to let him pay, but Jet had insisted. They got up to leave.

“What time is it?” Tia asked.

“Three.”

Tia nodded, and then she whipped her head around suddenly. “It’s three?”

“Yes.”

“But lunch ends at two thirty!”

“I know.”

“But…but…we’re late!”

“I know.”

“But…why are you so calm about this?”

Jet shrugged, grinning and obviously enjoying the frantic look on her face. “Why are you so worried?”

“Because it’s school! And we’re late! And I have Maths now! And unlike some people, I can’t do Maths to save my life and need all the help I can get!”

Jet waved away her excuses. “I can help you with Maths.”

“Don’t you have to go work?” she asked him as they walked out of the café.

He shrugged. “One day off won’t kill me.”

“No,” she said sternly. “You’ve skipped school because of me already. You are not skipping work because of me.”

“Tiana—”

“No. Don’t even try to persuade me by batting those blue eyes at me. It ain’t gonna work. You are going to work. Now.”

“Can’t I at least explain to your parents why you’re late for school?”

“Oh crap.” Tia groaned. “They’re going to know about it, aren’t they?”

“I’m sure they’ll let me explain.” Jet grinned down at her. “Wait here.” He went back into the café and began striking up a conversation with Tia’s mother.

From outside, it looked a bit more like banter and flirtation to Tia, but as long as it was going to get her out of trouble, then her mother could flirt as long as she wanted with Jet. Even though the idea of her mother flirting with Jet wasn’t exactly an image she wanted to picture in her head.

Jet came out five minutes later. “All settled.”

“Really?”

“Really. Now all I have to do is walk you back home before I go to work.”

“I know my way home, Jet.”

“I know, but I want to walk you home. Besides, my shift doesn’t start for another half hour.” He casually slipped his hand in hers as they walked along.

Heat spread from Tia’s hand to the rest of her body. She hoped fervently that she wasn’t blushing. It was suddenly too hot. She could feel herself burning up. She gave an involuntary shiver.

“Are you cold?” he asked her.

Was he serious? Cold was the last thing she was feeling right now. “No. I’m fine.”

“But you were shivering.”

“Um…it was just a little…random spasm.”

Jet raised an eyebrow but didn’t push it any further.

~

“Here you are, Miss.” Jet bowed as they reached Tia’s home.

Tia rolled her eyes as she walked up the driveway. Jet followed her up.

“Uh, so, have fun at work,” she said—quite lamely, she might add.

He grinned. “I’ll try. Have fun at home while the others are cracking their heads against the wall while trying to do Maths.”

She grinned back. “Oh, I will.”

They stood there in front of the front door, Tia nervous and Jet slightly uncomfortable.

“Right,” Tia said after a while. “I suppose I should go in now.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you around.”

“You’re not coming to school tomorrow?”

He shrugged. “Work.”

“Right. Well, bye.” She opened the door and was just about to go in when she felt a hand on her arm.

She turned around just as Jet closed in and kissed her swiftly on the cheek. To think the number of times he must’ve done this to perfect the timing.

“I hope you enjoyed our date as much as I did,” he said. “Albeit the fact that your mother wouldn’t leave us alone.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I did. Albeit the fact that my mom wouldn’t leave us alone.”

He smiled again, and his gaze dropped down to her lips. He licked his lips, as if wondering whether he should kiss her. Please do, Tia begged silently. But he didn’t. He looked away. “I should go.”

“Right. I’ll see you.”

He nodded and walked away from her.

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